Top Artists – Stevie Ray Vaughan

Stevie Ray Vaughan – Live Alive

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  • A Live Alive like you’ve never heard, with superb Double Plus (A++) sound or BETTER on all FOUR sides – remarkably quiet vinyl too
  • Those of you who are familiar with this record will not be surprised to learn that these shootouts are TOUGH – very few copies are any better than mediocre
  • We guarantee there is dramatically more richness, fullness, vocal presence, and performance energy on this copy than others you’ve heard, and that’s especially true if you made the mistake of buying whatever Heavy Vinyl pressing is currently on the market
  • Speaking of Heavy Vinyl, the SRV Box Set put out by Analogue Productions in 2014 — a set we have never heard by the way — rather disappointed one of our customers. He took the time to write us about how he felt being $400 poorer after hearing it
  • This same gentleman learned how important it is to play records like SRV’s good and loud, the way we do
  • “Live Alive is a magnificent double-length showcase for Stevie Ray Vaughan’s guitar playing, featuring a number of extended jams on a selection of most of the best material from Vaughan’s first three albums.. The renditions here sound less polished than the studio versions, with Vaughan’s guitar tone bitingly down and dirty and his playing spontaneous and passionate” 

KILLER sound throughout! Most copies we played were thick, murky, overly smooth and/or veiled, but this one almost never suffers in any of those areas. The sound is clean, clear, transparent and lively throughout.

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Stevie Ray Vaughan – Beyond White Hot Stamper Sound

More of the Music of Stevie Ray Vaughan

Hot Stamper Pressings of Electric Blues Albums

Years ago we heard a copy sound so much better than any copy we had ever played that we gave it a grade of Four Pluses on side two.

Our lengthy commentary entitled Outliers & Out-of-This-World Sound talks about how rare these kinds of pressings are and how to go about finding them.

We no longer give Four Pluses out as a matter of policy, but that doesn’t mean we don’t come across records that deserve them from time to time.

On Big Speakers at Loud Levels, this is Demo Disc Quality sound of the highest order.

Little Wing rocks as hard on this pressing as any song we have ever heard, with DEMO DISC SOUND to rival the greatest rock records of all time.

The guitar solos on Little Wing are as HUGE and LIVELY as any we have ever heard (assuming you have a copy that sounds like this one).

If you have BIG DYNAMIC SPEAKERS and the power to drive them to serious listening levels, you will be blown away by the sound found on the best copies of The Sky Is Crying.

This is one of the most blistering recordings of electric blues-rock we’ve ever played. Few other records recorded in the ’80s, or pressed in the ’90s, have this kind of BIG, BOLD SOUND. Maybe none. The sheer impact and wallop of this music is a real treat, but only if you have the right pressing (and the right kind of stereo to play it on, of course).

Little Wing is the surest proof that SRV was one of the greats. To me it’s his clearest claim to fame. I know of no other guitar showcase to compete with it.

Sonically it’s a knockout, with one of the tallest, widest and deepest soundstages I have ever heard on a record. It brings to mind Gilmore’s multiple solos on Money from the hottest Dark Side pressings.

More Titles that Are Good for Testing

Hot Stampers and Good Sounding Records Are Not the Same Thing

More Commentaries Outlining The Big Picture

More Entries in Our Critical Thinking Series

They are barely even related. Here’s why.

A good customer wrote to us recently to say that he was not happy with the Stevie Ray Vaughan White Hot Stamper pressings we had sent him.

Tom,

I also have a couple more returns for you: SRV Couldn’t Stand the Weather and SRV Soul to Soul. While these are good, they’re just not quite up to White Hot Stamper quality like some of the other records clearly are.

I took the opportunity to reply at length. The most interesting part is at the top if you don’t want to read the whole thing.

Dear Sir,

You appear to be conflating two concepts, Hot Stampers and Good Recordings. They are not the same thing. They are barely even related.

Hot Stampers are especially good sounding pressings of specific albums that we found through shootouts.

The recordings of these albums may be better or worse than others you are familiar with. That has nothing to do with how hot the stampers are of the pressings we sell.

It works this way: if you had a hundred copies of The Dark Side of the Moon, the median pressing– the one that would have ranked number 50 out of 100 — would sound substantially better than either of those two SRV albums.

Pink Floyd: amazing recording. 

SRV: good, not great recording.

We would never sell an average pressing of DSOTM. We only sell the best sounding versions of it.

We would never sell the average version of any SRV album. We only sell the best sounding versions of them.

But no SRV album is ever going to sound like a good Dark Side of the Moon! (more…)

Stevie Ray Vaughan – The Sky Is Crying

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Albums with Especially Dynamic Guitar Solos

  • SRV’s Rock Masterpiece, here with excellent Double Plus (A++) sound from start to finish – exceptionally quiet vinyl too
  • Some of the most blistering performances of electric blues we have ever had the pleasure of rocking out to
  • Hands down the best sounding SRV recording – “Little Wing” is an absolute monster on this side one and a Demo track to beat them all
  • 4 stars: “Doing away with vocals, Vaughan augments Hendrix’s concise two-and-a-half minute original, turning the track into a nearly seven-minute-long electric tour de force. The cover would earn Vaughan his sixth Grammy, for Best Rock Instrumental Performance, in 1992.”
  • We know about quite a few records that rock this hard. We seek them out, and we know how to play them.

This is one of the most blistering recordings of electric blues we’ve ever played. Few other records recorded in the ’80s have this kind of big, bold sound. Maybe none. The sheer impact and wallop of this music is a real treat, but only if you have the right pressing, and the right kind of stereo to play it on.

Stevie’s take on Jimi’s “Little Wing” is the surest proof that SRV was one of the greatest Electric Blues Guitarists of All Time. I know of no other guitar showcase to compete with it.

Turn it up good and loud and you will be amazed at how dynamic the guitar solos are.

Sonically it’s a knockout, with one of the tallest, widest, and deepest soundstages I have ever heard on record. It brings to mind Gilmore’s multiple solos on Money from the hottest Dark Side of the Moon pressings, high praise indeed.

“Little Wing” deservedly won SRV the Grammy in ’92 for Best Rock Instrumental.

And, if you want to hear Stevie channel Wes Montgomery instead of Jimi Hendrix, take a listen to “Chitlins Con Carne.”

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Stevie Ray Vaughan – Soul To Soul

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More of Our Hardest Rockin’ Records

  • Boasting two seriously good Double Plus (A++) or BETTER sides, this copy was giving us the sound we were looking for on this Classic of Electric Blues Guitar – exceptionally quiet vinyl too
  • An outstanding pressing with hard-rockin’ energy, rich, solid bass, open top end, and freedom from congestion
  • This is one of the better copies to hit the site in years – good SRV albums are getting tough to find nowadays
  • “[SRV] wanted to add soul and R&B inflections to his basic blues sound, and Soul to Soul does exactly that. [T]he Curtis Mayfield-inspired closer, ‘Life Without You,’ captures Vaughan at his best as a composer and performer. It’s such a seductive number – such a full realization of his soul-blues ambitions…”

Vaughn’s guitar playing is as fiery as ever, and the addition of keyboards and saxophone here gives the music broader scope and range than was possible on his previous albums.

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Stevie Ray Vaughan – Couldn’t Stand The Weather

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  • An excellent copy with Double Plus (A++) sound on both sides – remarkably quiet vinyl too
  • The bass is big, the overall presentation is huge, and the energy is jumpin’ on this early pressing – this is the right sound for SRV’s hard-chargin’ Electric Blues
  • 4 stars: “Stevie Ray Vaughan’s second album, Couldn’t Stand the Weather, pretty much did everything a second album should do: it confirmed that the acclaimed debut was no fluke, while matching, if not bettering, the sales of its predecessor, thereby cementing Vaughan’s status as a giant of modern blues.”

Stunning sound for this Stevie Ray classic. Just picture yourself in a blues club. Now imagine the volume being about ten times as loud. This is the kind of music you would hear and it would tend to sound pretty much like this: a bit messy but also real. If you’re one of those audiophiles who likes pinpoint imaging, forget it. They were going for the “live in the studio” sound with this one, which means it’s a bit of a jumble image-wise. But that’s the way you would hear it in a blues club, so where’s the harm?

This copy has excellent presence to the vocals and guitars, keeping in mind that the vocals are usually well back in the mix compared to the guitars, which for a guitarist of SRV’s skills is probably a good thing.

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Stevie Ray Vaughan – Forget Layered Depth and Pinpoint Imaging

More of the Music of Stevie Ray Vaughan

Hot Stamper Pressings of Electric Blues Albums

This copy gets Stevie’s room-filling guitar to sound about as rich and powerful as a recording of it can. When playing this record, first make sure the volume is good and loud. Now close your eyes and picture yourself in a blues club, with the volume ten times louder than your stereo will play. Electric Blues played at loud levels in a small club would sound pretty much like this album does, a bit messy but also real.  

If you’re one of those audiophiles who insists on precise soundstaging with layered depth and pinpoint imaging, forget it. That’s not in the cards. The producers and engineers were going for the “live in the studio” sound with this one (and most of his other albums it seems), which means it’s a bit of a jumble image-wise.

But that’s the way you would hear it performed live in a club, so where’s the harm? (more…)

Letter of the Week – “I took another listen to SRV, this time at VOLUME. Oh boy…”

More of the Music of Stevie Ray Vaughan

Hot Stamper Pressings of Electric Blues Available Now

A customer wrote us about his experience with Stevie Ray a while back.

Here is the bulk of his letter:

I took another listen to SRV Couldn’t Stand the Weather, this time at VOLUME.

I wanted bring make a point about one of his observations. (Bolding and italics added.)

There seems to be a threshold level for this record at which it sounds congested below, but which it comes alive above (and how).

I also noticed that my previous observations about the ratings of sides A and B were reversed at this volume level; there is more bass on side A, which was resulting in it sounding more congested at lower levels, but which is delicious when played loud; side B sounds a bit thin at louder volumes comparatively.

I guess this is more in line with what you heard when reviewing.

C

Conrad,

You hit the nail on the head with your revision of the sound of the two sides at loud levels.

We don’t know what our rock and electric blues and even classical records sound like at moderate levels.

We don’t play them that way, and we don’t want to hear them that way. Playing records too quietly obscures their faults. It also reduces the energy, whatever dynamic contrasts they might have, the ability to play clean in the loudest climaxes or choruses, and on and on down the list.

If someone were to invite me to hear their system, my first question would be “do you play your records at loud volumes?”

If the answer were no, I would stay home. What is more frustrating then music that won’t come alive?

Have you ever been in an audio showroom where they refused to play the system at anything but moderate levels? Of course you have. They never turn it up very loud because they know their systems will fall apart at loud levels. (The rooms are at fault for a lot of the bad sound. Good room treatments are ugly and potentially will scare away customers.)

Assuming that audiophiles won’t insist on playing these stereos at realistic levels and finding out just how bad they are is a pretty safe bet.

It took me decades to figure out what was going with these audio salons. You couldn’t pay me to go into one now.

Stevie Ray Vaughan – Texas Flood

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More Electric Blues

  • Both sides here are incredibly big, full and natural sounding with tons of energy and presence; exceptionally quiet vinyl too
  • “It’s hard to overestimate the impact Stevie Ray Vaughan’s debut, Texas Flood, had upon its release in 1983… Vaughan became a genuine star and, in doing so, sparked a revitalization of the blues…” – All Music
  • If you’re a fan of Stevie Ray Vaughan, a killer copy of his debut album from 1983 belongs in your collection.

This copy gets Stevie’s room-filling guitar to sound about as rich and powerful as a recording of it can. When playing this record, first make sure the volume is up good and high. Now close your eyes and picture yourself in a blues club, with the volume ten times louder than your stereo will play. Electric Blues played at loud levels in a small club would sound pretty much like this album does, a bit messy but also real.

If you’re one of those audiophiles who insists on proper soundstaging with layered depth and pinpoint imaging, forget it. That’s not in the cards. The producers and engineers were going for the “live in the studio” sound with this one (and most of his other albums it seems), which means it’s a jumble image-wise.

But that’s the way you would hear it performed live, so where’s the harm? (more…)

The Vaughan Brothers – Family Style

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More Electric Blues

  • This pressing of Jimmie and Stevie Ray’s 1990 release has superb Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) sound on both sides – exceptionally quiet vinyl too
  • Space, clarity, transparency, and in-the-room immediacy were off the charts on this pressing – it beat every copy we had hands down
  • “Jimmie makes his vocal debut on ‘White Boots’ and ‘Good Texan,’ and the brothers blur the lines between their expected guitar styles — Stevie sometimes going for a less sustainy twang, Jimmie moving into Albert King territory.”

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